Five Fundamentals of a Proper Golf Grip

You need to spend some practice time working on your grip. There is a lot to be gained here, as it is going to be difficult to reach your goals in golf without having a reliable grip on your side. In this article, we are going to be talking about the benefits of a good grip and talk about some key fundamentals. For most players, the techniques listed below are going to be the building blocks of a grip that will lead to satisfactory results.

Comfortable connection between your hands. This is a great place to start. You need to decide how you are going to connect your two hands during the swing, and you have to then get comfortable with that connection. For the vast majority of players, this means picking one of two options – the interlocking grip or the overlapping grip. In an interlocking grip, the pointer finger on your left hand is going to be placed between the ring finger and pinky finger on your right hand. The left-hand pointer finger is going to wind up on top of the back of your right hand, and your two hands will be firmly connected. As an alternative, you can choose to set the pinky finger of your right hand on top of the back of your left hand, in the crack between the second and third fingers. This is the overlapping grip, and it is another strong option. There is no right or wrong here, as you’ll just need to give them both a try and determine which feels more comfortable. Players with larger hands tend to have more success with the overlapping grip, but that is just a general guideline, not a hard and fast rule.

Functional left-hand position. The positioning of your left hand on the grip is going to say a lot about how your grip performs during the swing. Where you decide to set the left hand on the club is going to determine whether you have a weak, neutral, or strong grip. The best way to assess your left-hand grip is to look down at address and count the number of knuckles you can see on the back of your hand. If you see two knuckles, most people would consider that to be a neutral grip. More than that puts you into strong territory, while less will leave you with a weak grip. Generally speaking, the average golfer is going to be better served with a grip that leans toward the strong side of the scale. This is going to allow you to use your hands actively through the hitting area, and it will probably make it a bit easier to square up the club face. However, it is certainly possible to play well with a weak grip, so feel free to experiment.

Relaxed grip pressure. When you are first getting started in this game, you will probably feel like you need to hold onto the club as tightly as possible during the swing. Unfortunately, this is going to do nothing but hold you back. Sure, you need to hold on tight enough to maintain control of the club, but you don’t want to squeeze so hard that you lose the feel for your swing. In practice, work on striking a good balance so you can make a fluid swing while still keeping the club secure.

Right hand matches the left. We’ve already talked about the importance of finding a good position for your left hand when taking your grip. Once your left hand has a home on the grip, you will also need to move your right hand into position. Fortunately, this is an easier job, as you are simply going to match it up with your left. In other words, you want to place the palm of your right hand directly across the grip from the palm of your left hand, so the two match up as cleanly as possible. This should form a grip which works together nicely, rather than one where the two hands are fighting against each other for control of the club.

Clean grips in good condition. Okay, for this last point we are breaking away from talking about the way you place your hands on the club, and instead we are talking about the grip that is in place on each of your clubs. It is easy to take this piece of equipment for granted, but that would be a mistake. You want to make sure the grips on your clubs remain in good condition, and you want to keep them clean round after round. Replace your grips before they get too worn down, as using worn out grips is going to make it difficult to maintain light grip pressure. The grip will be slippery, so you will have to hold on tighter in order to control the club.

Believe it or not, a good grip does not need to be complicated. As long as your grip is comfortable and supports the type of swing you are trying to make, you should be good to go.

Finding Your Way: If you decide that you are going to work on the fundamentals of your golf grip, you stand to make great improvements in your game. Many golfers never want to work on their grip, so you’ll likely be a step ahead of the competition at your local course just by putting in the effort. However, we don’t want to lead you to believe that this is going to be easy. Most likely, it won’t be.

Grip changes are notoriously difficult because they impact the way the club feels in your hands. If you already play golf – which you probably do – you already have a grip of some kind, even if it isn’t a good one. By changing that grip, you are going to be altering your only connection with the club during the swing. That is a big change, and it is going to take some time to fully adjust. Most likely, you will get a little worse before you get better. That’s okay, but you need to be ready to go through that process. Be patient, think about the big picture, and look forward to playing better and better golf as you get comfortable with your new grip.

We hope this article has motivated you to take a new look at the way you grip the golf club. One of the basic fundamentals of the game, a solid grip can help you make up for mistakes in other parts of your technique. It may not be easy to change your grip, but it certainly is possible. Whether you decide to work on your putting grip, your full swing grip, or both, we wish you the best of luck!